Browsing Stored Information

ABSTRACT

A method for graphically representing content of a database in an automobile entertainment system. The method includes presenting a primary display element on a display, wherein the primary display element represents a first node in a first hierarchical level of the data base; and presenting a secondary display element on the display, wherein the secondary display element includes a graphical indicator that varies in size according to the number of nodes in a second hierarchical level below the first hierarchical level of the database. A method for graphically representing data base elements on a display, includes causing an icon to appear on a display, the icon representing a first node in a first hierarchical level of a data base; causing a ring to appear around the icon; and highlighting an arc of the ring, the arch described by an included angle, wherein the magnitude of the included angle is related to the number of elements in a hierarchical level below the first hierarchical level associated with the first node.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority ofU.S. patent application 11/317,558 of Andrew Olcott, Lisa deBettencourt,James T. Hotary, Richard Moon, and John Michael Sakalowsky, file on Dec.22, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND

This description relates to browsing stored information.

In typical display-based navigation systems used in vehicles, forexample, user interface controls such as buttons on a dashboard consoleenable a user to browse through lists of words or phrases representingitems in a database of stored information such as information aboutinterstate highways, state roads, and streets. It has also been proposedto enable a user to scroll back and forth through displays of individualsegments of a route based on information stored in a database.

SUMMARY

In general, in one aspect, a geographical field is displayed indicia,representing respective items stored in a navigation system that aredisplayed in positions that correspond to geographic relationships ofthe items on the geographic field. In response to a user manipulating auser interface control device, a visible feature of the geographic fieldis altered to indicate browsing with respect to a predeterminedsuccession of the stored items.

Implementations include one or more of the following features. Thealtering of a visible feature comprises changing an appearance of atleast one of the indicia. The items comprise points of interest in avicinity of a route on the geographical field. Text identifiers of atleast some of the selected items are also displayed in positions that donot correspond to geographic relationships of the items. The indicia aredisplayed as a hub representing one of the items and spokes representingother items that have a geographical relationship to the one item, theangles of the spokes and the distances separating the hub and the spokesbeing representative of the directions and distances among the itemsrepresented by the hub and the spokes. The user is enabled selectivelyto cause, at one time, either a geographical display of the indicia,text identifying the selected items, or both a geographical display ofthe indicia and text identifying the selected items. The geographicalfield is represented as a map of a region being navigated and theindicia are displayed on the map. The stored items are organized inhierarchical levels. The items represented by the indicia belong to oneof the levels. The user if enabled to select items at each of at leasttwo different hierarchical levels by manipulating the user interface.The items comprise points of interest. A cursor is displayed to indicatecurrently selected items. In response to a user request, additionalinformation is provided about currently selected items. The manipulatingof a control device comprises turning a knob. The visible feature of thegeographic field comprises a cursor, and altering the visible featurecomprises causing the cursor to point to successive indicia representingthe stored items. The predetermined succession of items is determinedautomatically. The user manipulating the user interface control deviceis not associated with an inherent geographic aspect. The usermanipulating the user interface control device requires no knowledge bythe user of the location on the geographical field of the next item inthe predetermined succession of items.

In another aspect, a ;method for graphically representing content of adatabase in an automobile entertainment system includes presenting aprimary display element on a display, wherein the primary displayelement represents a first node in a first hierarchical level of thedata base; and presenting a secondary display element on the display,wherein the secondary display element includes a graphical indicatorthat varies in size according to the number of nodes in a secondhierarchical level below the first hierarchical level of the database.The primary display element may include an icon representative of thefirst node. The secondary display element may include a ring-shapedgraphical element. The graphical indicator may include a highlighted arcwithin the ring-shaped graphical element. The highlighted the arc may bedescribed by a central angle equal to $\frac{m}{n} \times 360$degrees, where n is the number of nodes in the second hierarchical levelbelow the first hierarchical level that are associated with the firstnode, and m is one of 1 and the number of nodes in the hierarchicallevel below the first hierarchical level that are represented on thedisplay. The number n may be equal to 1 and the and method may furtherinclude highlighting an arc of the ring, the arc described by a centralangle equal to $\frac{1}{n_{\max}} \times 360$degrees when n is equal to or greater than n_(max). The m may be thenumber of nodes in the hierarchical level below the first hierarchicallevel that are represented on the display and the method may furtherinclude highlighting an arc of the ring, the arc described by a centralangle equal to $\frac{m}{n_{\max}} \times 360$degrees when n is equal to or greater than n_(max). The method mayfurther include causing the arc to be displaced from a starting point byan angular and representing an incrementing through the n nodes byincrementing the angular distance by $\frac{1}{n} \times 360$degrees.

In another aspect, in an automobile entertainment system, a method forgraphically representing elements of database comprising a plurality ofnodes that are arranged in a predetermined order includes providing acontrol knob for navigating through nodes presented on a display of thevehicle entertainment system; presenting on the display a firstgraphical element representative of a selected node; and presenting onthe display a second and third graphical element associated with arespective second and third node that are each adjacent to the selectednode in the predetermined order, wherein the first, second and thirdgraphical elements are arranged in an approximately circular orsemi-circular fashion such that as the control knob is rotated selectionbetween the first, second, and third graphical elements is similarlyrotated. The first graphical element may include a graphical indicatorthat graphical shows the number of sub-selections under the selectednode. The graphical indicator may include a highlighted are within aring. The method may further include causing a fourth graphical elementassociated with a fourth node to appear on the screen as the userrotates the control knob. The first, second and third graphical elementsmay move on the display in the rotary direction of the control knob whenrotated by the user. The entertainment system may further include asecond control knob for selecting between sub-selections under theselected node. The second control knob may be concentric with the firstcontrol knob. The graphical indicators may move as the second controlknob is rotated.

In another aspect, a method for displaying audio signal sources eachaudio signal source corresponding to one of a plurality of presetindicators includes on a display screen, adjacent a first presetindicator, displaying an audio signal source corresponding to the firstpreset indicator; displaying adjacent a second preset indicator a firstgraphical indicator that there are additional audio signal sources eachcorresponding to one of the plurality of reset indicators; and uponselection of the second preset indicator, displaying a second audiosignal source corresponding to the first preset indicator. The number ofaudio signal sources may be greater than the number of presetindicators. The number of audio signal sources may be greater than thenumber of preset indicators. The method may further include displayingadjacent a third preset indicator a second graphical indicator thatthere are additional audio signal sources each corresponding to one ofthe plurality of present indicators; and upon selection of the thirdpreset indicator displaying a third audio signal source corresponding tothe first preset indicator.

In another aspect, an audio system includes a number N of input elementseach associated with a particular radio station such then when the inputelement is actuated by a user the audio system tunes to the particularradio station; and a user interface that permits the user to change thenumber of particular radio stations that may be stored from a firstvalue to a second value, wherein at least the second value is greaterthan N.

In another aspect, a method for graphically representing data baseelements on a display includes an icon to appear on a display, the iconrepresenting a first node in a first hierarchical level of a data base;causing a ring to appear around the icon; and highlighting an arc of thering, the arc described by an included angle, wherein the magnitude ofthe included angle is related to the number of elements in ahierarchical level below the first hierarchical level associated withthe first node. The position of the arch along the circumference of thering may be related to the position of a highlighted element of thehierarchical level below the first hierarchical level within itshierarchical level. The magnitude of the included angle may be inverselyproportional to the number of elements in the hierarchical level belowthe first hierarchical level associated with the first node. The displaymay be associated with a vehicle entertainment system. The display maybe further associated with a vehicle navigation system.

Other general aspects include other combinations of the features recitedabove and other features expressed as methods, apparatus, systems,program products, and in other ways.

Other advantages and features will become apparent from the followingdescription and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 13A are block diagrams.

FIGS. 1B, 6A, 8A, 9A, and 13B show hierarchies.

FIGS. 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 9B,11A, 11B, and 12 show screen shots, in some cases with hierarchies.

FIG. 10 shows an icon.

FIG. 14 is a simulated screen shot.

FIGS. 15A and 15B show a ring icon.

FIGS. 16A-16D show preset indicators and an adjacent portion of adisplay.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

By improving the way a user can visually browse records stored in adatabase, finding items of interest and understanding their significance(for example, the location of Chinese restaurants on a displayedregional map) becomes faster, easier, and more intuitive. The records inthe database may relate to (and provide information about) items thatare not simply route segments, but rather are attractions in thevicinity of, or supplemental features of, a route or a region or otherspatial field that is being displayed textual hierarchy of the items toselect one or more nodes or leaves of the hierarchy of items (forexample, restaurants that serve Italian food). Once the nodes or leavesare selected, the user can visually browse the items in those nodes orleaves, on item at a time, back and forth, using a user interface devicesuch as a knob to select a current item of interest. The user canalternate between browsing the hierarchy and browsing the items inselected nodes or leaves of the hierarchy because the display can showboth the textual hierarchy and a map of the items of that are selectedin the hierarchy at a given time. Or the textual hierarchy, can behidden to permit a more complete map display of the items being browsed.

The items of the selected portion of the hierarchy are indicated byicons or other indicia displayed on a map (or other two-dimensional orthree-dimensional representation). All of the items in that portion ofthe hierarchy can be indicated simultaneously on the map. The currentitem of interest selected by the user can be distinguished visuallyusing different indicia than are used for the other displayed items thatare not the currently selected item. Displaying all of the items of theportion of the hierarchy at once while highlighting a selected one ofthem enables the user to comprehend easily the relationship of thedifferent items to the local region and their relationship to oneanother and their relationship to a current vehicle location.

In other examples, the intersections of roads may be organizedhierarchically in the database, and the users can select a set ofintersections from the hierarchy and then browse successiveintersections within that set (for example, all roads that intersectMain Street in Bristol, R.I.). The roads selected need not have nayrelationship to a current position of the vehicle or to a programmedroute.

In the examples described above, the hierarchy of items in the databaseis not displayed explicitly on the map. Rather only the items within aselected portion of the hierarchy are displayed on the map as the userbrowses. In some examples, however, the hierarchy is explicitlydisplayed. In some cases, the hierarchical display provides anabstracted rather tan literal view of the positional relationships amongthe levels of the hierarchy and the items of a given node or leaf. Thedisplay, for example, can use a hub and spoke approach to display thegeographical relationships of countries, states, and towns.

In some examples, it would also be possible to display the hierarchicalrelationships of items in the database on the map itself. Items that aredisplayed on the map generally have a geographic aspect. Items at anylevel of the database hierarchy that exhibit such a geographic aspect,can be displayed, for example, all Italian restaurants or all Chineserestaurants. For example, all attractions could be indicated by arelatively small unobtrusive visual indicia on the map. All gasolinestations could then be indicated by another, slightly more noticeableindicia, all restaurants by a different indicia, and so on. All Chineserestaurants could be shown by an even more noticeable indicia, and soforth. Each restaurant could be shown by a knife and fork icon, forexample, and each Chinese restaurant by the same knife and fork iconwith a Chinese character overlaid on it. In some cases, the user couldbe permitted to choose multiple nodes and leaves of the hierarchy forvisual display and exclude others. For example, the user could selectChinese restaurants and Italian restaurants to see whether the nearestItalian restaurant (his second favorite cuisine) is much closer than anyChinese restaurant (his favorite cuisine).

Each time a user moves from one item to a new current item from thedatabase, details about that item stored in the database may bedisplayed (for example the address or telephone number of therestaurant).

The user is also enabled to zoom in and out with respect to thedisplayed map to see more or less detail, and the zooming can be done inconjunction with each of the successive currently selected items. Forexample, when the user has currently selected the China Moon restaurant,he can zoom in on the portion of the map in the vicinity of the iconthat indicates the location of that restaurant. He can then change thecurrent item to another Chinese restaurant and zoom on that one.Separate controls can be provided for that purpose.

Sometimes we use the phase geographical field broadly to refer, forexample, to all of the displayed elements that have geographic meaningor are related to elements that have geographic meaning, including themap, cursors, text, roads, points of interest, and other indiciadisplayed with map or any of the other geographical elements.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a database 100 of records can be accessed andbrowsed by a user 104 using controls of a user interface 102. The userinterface 102 and the database can be part of any of a wide variety ofdevices including a genera-purpose computer running an operating systemand applications to manage the database and the interface, among otherthings. Other devices could include dedicated workstations, portablecomputers, and hand-held devices including personal digital assistantsand mobile telephones. In addition, the user interface and the databasecould be operated on two or more different devices, and the devicescould be in the same location or different locations. Different devicescould interact through any kind communication network including a localarea network, a wide area network, and the internet. The database mayinclude any kind of information.

In some implementations, described by example below, the databaseincludes navigation information useful for a display-based navigationsystem of a vehicle. The user interface is exposed to the occupants ofthe vehicle through a console, for example, a dashboard mounted console.The user interface and the database are managed by software running onan on-board computer in the vehicle.

One simple example of a portion of the database 100 is illustrated inFIG. 1B. The records of the database may be organized hierarchically insuccessive levels beginning with a root node. The root node couldrepresent an action associated with the levels below, for example, “findnearby” Each of the other levels can have multiple nodes. Leaves of thehierarchy occur at the opposite end from the root node. The records in atop level 110 of the hierarchy (in FIG. 1B, the root node is just to theleft of the top level node 110) represent functions performed by avehicle navigation system, e.g. Map (which refers to the display of mapson the navigation system screen), Services (which refers to display ofservices that may be available to motorists at facilities located on ornear the vehicle's route). Location (display of information about thevehicle's current location), and Trip Info (display of information abouta current trip of the vehicle).

Each record in the first level 110 of the hierarchy represents a nodethat is associated with a set of nodes at a second level 112 of thehierarchy. For example, associated with Services in the first level arethe nodes Attraction (sites that may be of interest to the vehicleoccupants), Gas (places to buy fuel), Information (information aboutplaces, geography, history, and the like), and Restaurant (names andother each node in the second level. Continuing the example of FIG. 1B,the restaurant node corresponds to the nodes 114 including American,Chinese, French, Italian, and Mexican. In the fourth level 116, Chineserestaurants are associated with records or China Garden, China Ruby,Harvard Moon, Lotus Flower, and Three Gorges. At the fifth level 118 ofthe hierarchy of the database in FIG. 1B are the types of informationavailable about each restaurant at the fourth level 116. A sixth levelof data, not shown, would contain the actual data from the recordreferred to in the fifth level 118, for example, the menu of the ChinaRuby Chinese Restaurant that is a Service of interest to the vehicleoccupants. Alternatively, a record in the fifth level 118, e.g.Directions, might link to data external to the database 100. The nodesat the fifth level may be thought of as leaves of the hierarchy.

For a geographical region, the database could include a large number ofrecords and reasonable complex hierarchy of nodes and leaves. Thisraises the important question: How can the user browse through such adatabase of information quickly and easily to reach and understandinformation that is useful to him?

Often browsing is aided by a combination of displaying to the userportions of the hierarchy in text and the information from the recordsrepresented by the hierarchy, and enabling the user to indicate choicesthrough devices of a user interface.

In some existing browsing system, information in a database is presentedto a user in successive menus corresponding to the levels of ahierarchy, for example, the contents of successive levels of thehierarchy, e.g. categories of music, genres, computers. The user'sselection of one record in each screen determines which records from thenext level are presented in the next screen.

FIGS. 2 through 10 illustrate examples of an improved way to enable auser to browse a database in the context of a vehicle's navigationsystem.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the interface 200 of the navigation systemcomprises buttons, knobs, and a display screen combined in a unit thatcan be mounted in a dashboard of a vehicle, for example. Some buttons,e.g. 202, 206, 210, 214, have specific functions indicated by labels onthose buttons. Other buttons, e.g. 208, 216, may have functions thatvary depending on the state of the navigation system. Knobs 204, 212 mayalso have fixed functions or differing functions and may also functionas push buttons. The display screen 218 may be a video monitor capableof displaying any image or video stream sent to it, or it may comprisediscrete elements such as character displays, individual lights, orstatic images.

In some examples, as shown in FIG. 2A, the records in a level 110 (fromFIG. 1B) of the hierarchical database are represented by icons 220displayed on a screen 218. The screen may be split for purposes ofdisplay so that the icons are shown on the bottom portion and a map isshown on the upper portion. The display of the top level icons asillustrated may be the initial or default display for the system. Asshown, in general, the user may select an icon representing a desiredfunction by rotating a designated knob 212 to change which icon ishighlighted (in FIG. 2A, it is Service that is highlighted), and thenpressing a designated button, which may be the knob 212 used to selectthe icon.

In some implementations, the user might select a function by directlypressing an icon 220, if screen 218 is sensitive to touch.

The selecting of one of the icons in FIG. 2A, by a knob and pressing it,causes the display to change to the configuration shown in FIG. 2B, inwhich selected nodes of the hierarchy at successive levels aredisplayed, one node per level. In FIG. 2B, only one level of thehierarchy (Restaurants) is shown (in addition to the root node, FindNearby), and one of the nodes at that level 112 of the hierarchicaldatabase is displayed on a line of text 226. The name of the item thatwas selected in the next higher level is displayed on a higher line oftext 224. For the function of locating services, there are multiple waysto define the starting point and scope of the search, for example,services near the vehicle's location, along a calculated route, within aspecific city or other area, on a particular cross street, or at adestination or other identified point. In this example, the “FindNearby”item may represent any of these methods, and does not Ioncorrespond to the details of the hierarchy shown on earlier figures. Theuser is able to browse the names of nodes in the level 112 by rotatingthe knob 212 (FIG. 2A), which changes the name displayed in the line 226to the successive names (one by one) in a list of the nodes in the level112 of the hierarchy. A circular icon 222 indicates how far through thelist of items in that level of the hierarchy the user has browsed by theangular extent 1002 of the outer ring that is filled in (see FIG. 10,described below). The line of the display that contains the phrase<Distance to Location> indicates an action that can be taken by the userwith respect to the selections that appear in the list shown above it.Any of the levels 112, 114 could be visually browsed. For example, onemight wish to switch between browsing all Chinese restaurants andbrowsing all restaurants.

For the third level 114 of the hierarchical database, shown in FIG. 2C,the names of the items at that level are displayed, one at a time, in athird line of text 232, with the selected item in each of the previoustwo levels displayed in preceding lines of text 224 and 226. The user isable to browse the successive items in level 114 by rotating the knob212 in the same manner as for FIG. 2B. As with the second level, theicon 222 indicates how far through the list of records in level 114 theuser has browsed. At any time and from time to time, whenever the useris browsing in a level of the hierarchy by turning the knob, he can stopbrowsing, restart again, and reverse direction once or repeatedly. Theicon 222 will continue to show at all times the location of the userwithin the list of items at that leave. Being circular, the icon impliesto the user that the list of items is a ring in which the final item isfollowed by the first item again, and the user can use the knob tobrowse from the end of the list directly to the beginning of the list.

Also shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C are icons 230 and 234.

When the information associated with a particular node has a geographicattribute, as in (but not limited to) a navigation system, theinformation may be displayed visually and the user may be enabled tobrowse the visual display. For example, for the third level 116 of thehierarchical database, shown in FIG. 4A, the locations of the individualrestaurants in that node can be illustrated by icons or other indicia ona map. A cursor 306 indicates the location on a map 310 of the currentitem selected by the user, a restaurant named “China Ruby”. The textualdisplay of the hierarchy has been hidden in FIG. 4A to permit the userto have an unobstructed view of the map. Several names and pin icons408, 410, 412, and 414 simultaneously indicate locations of otherrestaurants on the map 310. An icon 406 indicates the current locationof the automobile near the center of the screen, giving additionalcontext to the locations shown for the restaurants. As in the earlierexample, rotating the knob 212 browses among the items of the presentsubset 116. As shown in FIG. 4B, in response to the user turning theknob 212, the cursor 306 has moved to the location on the map 310 of the“Three Gorges” restaurant. Text 404 indicates that pressing thecorresponding button 208 will return the user to the traditional listview of the database.

FIGS. 3B illustrates an alternative mode of browsing activated when theuser presses the button 208 designated “List View” indicated by the text404 in FIG. 4A and 4B. The map 310 is still visible and the display ofthe hierarchy is also displayed. To accommodate the map, the display ofthe hierarchy has been reduced in size, the icon 222 has been reduced insize and relocated, and a new icon 314 has been added. The names of therestaurants are displayed in a fourth line of text 302, one at a time,with the selected item from each of the previous three levels displayedin preceding lines of text 224, 226, and 232. As with the other levels,the user is able to browse the records level 116 by rotating knob 212and, icon 222 indicates how far through the list of records in level 116by the user has browsed.

The restaurant listed on line 302 (FIG. 3B) is identified on the map byan icon (a pin within the cursor 306) the other restaurants in the list(the ones that are present on the portion of the map displayed) areidentified by names and pin icons 412 are 414 as in FIG. 4A. The text404 (FIG. 4A) has been replaced by the text 304, indicating thatpressing the corresponding button 208 will return the viewer to the MapView. Using the button 208, the user may toggle back and forth betweenthe view shown in FIG. 3B, which includes the list view showing the listand a portion of the map, and the view, shown in FIG. 4A, for example,in which the list is hidden and only the map is shown. An itemhighlighted in one view will also be highlighted in other view.

When a user is browsing in one view the information necessary fordisplaying the other view can be processed in the background. Forexample, when an item is selected in the list view, the information forrendering the map in the map view can be calculated at the same time, sothat the system can switch rapidly to the alternative view whenrequested to do so by the user. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, one view is overlaidon top of the other view, and both views are updated at the same time.The system may also accommodate highlighting more than one item at atime. For example, all Chinese restaurants may be highlighted, or allItalian restaurants, or all gas stations.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the change in the display as the user rotatesknob 212 to choose among items in level 116. As the knob 212 is rotated,the item listed in 302 changes from “China Ruby” to “Lotus Flower.”Meanwhile, the outer ring of the icon 222 indicates that the user isfarther through the records in the preset level, and the icon 306 nowindicates the location of the “Lotus Flower” restaurant on the map 310in the background. Thus the user can browse the database by rotating theknob which causes successive items to be indicated by both the line 302and the icon cursor on the map.

In the example of FIG. 3A and 3B, an icon 314 representing the volume ofthe vehicle's audio system is displayed on the left side of screen 218.The current volume level relative to the maximum potential volume levelis represented by the extent to which the outer ring of volume icon 314is filled in.

A line 312 corresponds to the next level 113 of the hierarchy that willbe displayed once the user has selected a restaurant in line 302 fromlevel 116. The choice currently shown enables the user to display thedistance to the restaurant. Other actions may include <indicate route>.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, once a user chooses to see a route to hisselected restaurant, as this operation may take some time to complete,the screen 218 may display an indication 502 that the user's request isbeing processed.

Using the interface illustrated and described above, a user can browserapidly, easily, and intuitively through a database to find informationof interest.

In some implementations, a vehicle navigation system may be used to finda street intersection. FIG. 6A shows an example of the nodes in ahierarchical database that support this function. Other database formatsmay be used. In a second level 620, records representing various ways oflocating a point on a map correspond to the Map service at the top level110 (from FIG. 1B). For the intersection item, subsets of records in athird level 622 each contain streets that could be the first street ofan intersection. A set of records at a fourth level 624 contains streetsthat intersect 1st Street, the street selected in level 622.

FIG. 6B shows an example of a user interface for accessing intersectioninformation from a database. Line 606 indicates the currently selectedmode (in this case, “Find Nearby Intersection”). The line 608 indicatespossible cities in which intersections of streets occur. The line 610indicates possible first streets that could be associated withintersections in the selected city. The line 612 indicates streets thatintersect the street selected in line 610. The line 612 is aligned withan icon 602, that indicated (by the drawing of an intersection) thecurrently active mode that corresponds to the text on line 606. Otherpossible modes are indicated by icons 614.

Rotating knob 212 would change the selection on line 612 to otherstreets. The portion of the outer ring of the icon 602 that is darkenedindicates how far through the records of the level 622 the user hasbrowsed.

In other examples of selecting a street, in particular a street fromlevel 624 of a database intersecting a previously selected street fromlevel 622, (shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B) a street 702 is darkened toindicate that it has already been selected as the first street of anintersection. An intersection 704 of a second street is indicated by acallout 706, which displays the name of that second street, “GreatRoad.” The text 712 indicates that the corresponding one of the buttons208 will toggle the display to a list view of intersecting streets.Turning the knob 212 changes the currently selected intersecting street,as seen in FIG. 7B where intersection 704 (FIG. 7A) has been replaced bythe intersection 708, and the callout 706 has been replaced by thecallout 710 indicating the name of the newly selected intersectingstreet, “Mill St.”

A visual display could also be used to select the first street of anintersection, with each possible street highlighted in turn in the samemanner that the street 702 is highlighted in FIGS. 7A and 7B. Turningknob 212 may change which street is selected according to a hierarchy,e.g., larger roads are selected first, or longer roads are selectedfirst, smaller roads selected second, or alphabetically, or in orderacross the screen, or in some other manner.

In some implementations, a vehicle navigation system enables a user tobrowse geographical locations (e.g., possible destinations) using anabstract spatial representation that includes, for example, cities andstates. FIG. 8A shows nodes in levels of an example hierarchicaldatabase that supports this function. One level 802 of the hierarchylists states for which the navigation system has location information.Another level 804 contains states neighboring a state selected from thelevel 802. Other levels may include counties, cities, roads, andintersections, and reflect their adjacency relationships, for example.

FIG. 8B shows an example of a user interface for accessing informationfrom the hierarchical database. The states in levels 802 and 804 aredisplayed schematically in a hub and spoke display. By providing theuser with an interface that is simpler than a typical map, he is able tobrowse the available destinations more easily; than using a map andwithout needing to resort to spelling the street name.

The user interface provides an outer knob 831 that enables a user toscroll through the spokes visually to select one. An inner know 833allows the user to zoom in and out on the selected spoke. FIG. 8C showsthe display of FIG. 8B after zooming in.

In the example, a circle hub 806 may be the state in which the user'svehicle is currently located (Massachusetts) or a state that the userhas chosen by browsing a list of states or a schematic representation ofthe states. Neighboring states to the hub state from level 804 of thedatabase are displayed as dots, e.g., the dot 808 for New Hampshire,Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The dots for each neighboring state maybe positioned in a direction and at a distance from the circle 806corresponding to the relative geographic locations of the states. Thedots 812 and 814 show additional states that are available in level 802and 804, respectively, but are grayed because they do not borderMassachusetts.

As a user rotates the knob 831, the selected sate changes among thestates in the items of level 804, as shown in FIG. 8D, in which Maine isthe presently selected state 810. Pressing the knob 833 or anotherdesignated button then refocuses the presentation on Maine, whichbecomes the new hub.

If New Jersey were selected in FIG. 8D and the knob 822 pressed, thedisplay would change to FIG. 8E. New Jersey is now represented by acircle 816. The level 804 now contains a set of records corresponding tothe states neighboring New Jersey, hence neighboring states Pennsylvaniaand Delaware are represented on the schematic by 818.

Pressing the knob 831 or another designated button while a state ishighlighted as the hub changes the display to the next level of thehierarchy, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, in which a set of items in alevel 902 represent cities located within Massachusetts, the selecteditem from level 802. The states previously displayed are replaced bycities represented by dots, e.g., the dots 904 for Lynn, Revere, andQuincy. In this example, the cities are positioned in a direction and ata distance from a central circle corresponding to their geographiclocation relative to Boston. Additional cities are shown by the dots906, which are lighter in color indicating that they are not within thecurrently selected state. Rotating the knob 831 will select among thecities as in the previous examples.

An icon showing progress through a set of records, as in FIGS. 2B, 2C,3A, 3B, and 6B, is shown in more detail in FIG. 10. The icon 222 issurrounded by a ring 1004. An arc 1002 is displayed over a portion ofring 1004. The angle of the arc corresponds to the position of apresently active record in a list of all records in the present set. InFIG. 10, are 1002 has an angle of 120 degrees (out of a possible 360),indicating that a presently selected record (Delta) occupies a position⅓ into the list of records in level 1006 of a hierarchical database. Thefirst record, Alpha, would be represented by a 30 degree arc, while thefinal record, Mu, would be represented by a full circle (not shown). Incomparing FIG. 2A to FIG. 3A, the size of icon 222 decreases after aselection is made at the first level for which it is displayed.

Several methods of determining the scope of a search, as discussedabove, are facilitated by the visual display. For example, as shown inFIG. 11A, a displayed map 1102 may be broken into arbitrary pie segments1104, 1106, 1108, 1110, and 1112. The map 1102 could also be broken intoareas in other ways, such as in a grid or by geographic or politicaldivisions. A user could visually browse the displayed areas by rotatingthe knob 212 as in the other examples, with different areas of the mapbeing highlighted in succession. When a desired area is highlighted,e.g., the area 1106, the area is selected by pressing the knob 212 oranother button, and other functions specific to the highlighted area aremade available. This process may be useful for panning and scrollingthrough a map, for example. When a segment is selected, the user canzoom into that section, which may be broken into a number of newsub-area segments, which can be visually browsed as before. As shown inFIG. 11B, the area 1106 has been enlarged to fill the display area 1102,and new areas 1114, 1116, 1118, 1120, and 1122 are displayed, with thearea 1114 selected. A method for zooming out from a selected area canalso easily be accommodated.

One useful application is to visually browse along a calculated route.The calculated route can be divided up into segments, as shown in FIG.12. A database is searched to identify all segments 1204, 1206, 1208,and 1210 associated with the selected route 1202, all of which aredisplayed in map 1200. By turning the knob 212, or activating anothercontrol, various segments along the route are highlighted as in otherexamples. In FIG. 12, the segment 1204 is highlighted, as shown by adotted line 1212. A zoom function could be provided to enable display ofgreater detail of a highlighted route section.

The hierarchy being browsed can relate to any information stored in anymanner for use in any context.

A wide variety of user interface devices may be used as part of themethod, including speech recognition.

Instead of requiring the user to turn the knob to advance the display tothe next item at a level of the hierarchy, the advancing could be doneautomatically and the user could make a selection during a period whenan item is being displayed.

in addition to browsing item at item at the bottom level of thehierarchy, e.g., one Chinese restaurant after another, the user may alsobrowse through successive items at a higher level of the hierarchy. Forexample, turning the knob could first highlight all Chinese restaurantstan all Italian restaurants, and so forth.

The devices and methods of FIGS. 1A-12 can be applied to the operationof the entertainment system of a vehicle. FIG. 13A is a block diagramincluding some of the elements of FIG. 1A showing some additionalelements.

Navigation system 2002 is operatively coupled to interface 160 bydisplay control module 2004. Interface 160 may include a display fordisplaying graphic images, which will be further explained below.Entertainment system 2006 includes control module 2008, which isoperatively coupled to audio signal portals 2010. Control module 2008 isoperatively coupled to display control module 2004. Other elements ofthe entertainment system, such as loudspeakers, amplifiers, audio signalprocessing elements, and the like are not shown in this view. Forpurpose of explanation, video control module 2004 is shown as a distinctelement; however in other embodiments, the video control module can be acomponent of the navigation system 2002 or the entertainment system 2006or comprise elements of both.

Audio signal portals 2010 may include a storage medium, such as a harddisk drive or memory; and FM receiver; an AM receiver; a satellite radioreceiver; a portable storage device; a cell phone; the navigation system2002; or other sources. Each audio signal portal 2010 may haveassociated with it a number of audio signal sources. For example if theaudio signal portal is a CD/DVD drive, the audio signal sources may betracks on a CD. If the audio signal portal is an FM or AM receiver, theaudio signal sources may be radio stations, and so on.

In operation, the navigation system 2002 and the entertainment system2006 transmit to video control module 2004 data that can be displayedgraphically on the user display 200 of user interface 160 of FIG. 13A.The display control module 2004 determines what data is displayed ondisplay 200. The graphically displayed data can be data from thenavigation system, the entertainment system, or both. The operation ofthe display control module is controlled by a microprocessor 2005running software instructions, which may be stored on a microprocessorreadable medium 2007, for example, a memory, a hard disk, or other datastorage device.

As represented in FIG. 13B, the entertainment system may have associatedwith it a database similar in structure to the database of FIG. 1B. Atthe root level are nodes representing audio source types, such as AMRadio, FM Radio, etc. At the second level in the hierarchical data baseare nodes relating to the nodes of the root level. For example, relatingto the node FM Radio may be the nodes Strong Signal, Genre, and Tune,examples of which will be described later. Under the Strong Signals nodeis a third level of nodes, for example, strong station 1, strong station2, etc. Under the Genre node is a third and forth level of nodes, thethird level corresponding to different genres (e.g., Rock, Classical,Talk, Religious, Sports, etc.) and the forth level of nodescorresponding to stations within the particular genre (e.g., RockStation 1, Rock Station 2, etc.). The system categorizes the informationinto the nodes based on various information (e.g., metadata associatedwith stored content and RDS or similar data associated with broadcastedcontent).

FIG. 14 shows elements of the display 200, including the data stored onthe display screen. Knob 212 includes inner knob 833 and outer knob 835.Data displayed on the display screen includes a current display element2012 and text sections 2014 and 2016.

The text section 2014 includes textual information about the nodecurrently being scrolled and about certain nodes in the hierarchy aboveand below the node currently being scrolled. In the example of FIG. 14,the root node is the FM receiver audio signal portal, as indicatedgraphically by the FM indicator 2011.

The second level nodes being scrolled is Genre, which is graphicallyindicated by showing a series of display elements 2016, 2017, 2012,2018, 2019 in a semi-circular pattern.

The third level of nodes currently being scrolled is the “Rock” genre,which is visually indicated icon 2012 a within display element 2012 aswell as the text “Rock” 2013 within the display window. Other availablethird level nodes are shown graphically by icons located within displayelements 2016 (associated with, e.g., Classical genre), and 2019(associated with, e.g., Sports genre). These other nodes can be selectedby the user by rotating inner knob 833, which causes the displayelements 2016, 2017, 2012, 2018 and 2019 to rotate in the same directionas the knob.

“Rock Stations” as indicated by text 2020. The currently indicated nodeand adjacent nodes in the hierarchy level below the currently indicatednodes are also displayed in the scrolling section 2015. In this example,the currently indicated node is “101.1” and the adjacent nodes are“100.7” and “101.5”. The display also includes a text section thatincludes other information, such as descriptive information about thecurrently indicated node. In this example, the information includes theRDS program service information (“Rock 101”) as well as information suchas the track currently being played (“Cinderella—Don't Know What YouGot”) and the artiest (Lynyrd).

Current selection icon 2012 provides a visual indicator of the nodecurrently being scrolled. For simplicity, the icons in FIG. 14 aregeometric figures. In an actual implementation, the icon for “Rock”might be, for example, a rock guitar. Icons 2016-2019 provide visualindicators of nodes that are adjacent to the node being scrolled. Forexample, instead of a pentagon, icon 2017 could be a violin, indicatingClassical. The five pointed star in icon 2016 could be a microphone toindicate talk radio. As shown in FIG. 14, display elements 2012 and2016-2019 also each include a concentric ring around the perimeter ofthe genre icon that will be discussed later.

As mentioned above, information displayed on the screen can bemanipulated by physical operation of inner knob 833 and outer knob 835.In the implementation of FIG. 14, operating the inner knob causes theinformation in the display to scroll through the currently indicatednode. For example, turning the knob clockwise would cause 101.5 tobecome the currently indicated node, and the information in the textsection would change, so that it is descriptive of station 101.5, thenode being scrolled. Operating the outer knob 835 changes the currentlyindicated node. For example, turning the outer knob 835counter-clockwise would cause node 2017 to become the currentlyindicated node and would cause icon 2019 to no longer appear on thedisplay. The contents of the scrolling section would be the FM stationscorresponding to node 2017. If node 2017 were the “classical” node, theFM stations broadcasting classical music would be displayed in scrollingarea 2015.

The information shown on display 200 is dependent on the audio signalportal selected by the user. For example, the examples of FIG. 14 showinformation associated with the FM audio signal portal. If a CD/DVDplayer is the selected audio signal portal, the information in the textarea 2014 could be information about the CD, the items in the scrollsection 2015 could the numbers or names of the tracks on the CD, and thetext section could show information about the CD track currently beingplayed. If the currently selected audio signal portal is satellite radioor AM, the information displayed might be similar to the informationshown in FIG. 14, except instead of FM broadcast frequencies (e.g.100.7, 101.1, 101.5) the information in scrolling area 2015 could besatellite radio channels or AM broadcast frequencies, respectively.Similarly, if the currently selected audio signal portal is a portablestorage device or a hard disk drive or memory, the scroll section couldshow individual tracks, playlists, albums, artists, composers, and otherinformation, and the text section 2014 could show information about thecontents of the track or playlist, album, artist, or composer.

A button (for example one of buttons 208) or another dedicated buttoncan be designated as an “options” button that permits the setting ofoptions associated with the current audio signal portal selected. Forexample, if the current source is FM and an options button is pressed,the user may be presented with options such as changing the manner inwhich the user would like to navigate the FM source (e.g., by chargingthe second-level node from Genre to Strong Signals or Tune).Additionally, the user may be presented with other options such asassigning presets and finding alternate frequencies broadcasting thesame program content. If the current source is AM, options presentedcould include assigning presets. If the current source is satelliteradio, options could include assigning presets and assigning categories(for example “Decades”) to be shown. If the current audio signal portalis “TV”, options could include assigning presets or adjusting TVparameters such as brightness, contrast, and saturation. If the currentsource is “CD”, options presented could include auto-storing the contentof a CD disk. If the current audio signal portal is a library (forexample stored on an internal hard disk or memory), options presentedcould include sorting or managing the library. The displayed informationwould include information associated with the option being modified.

As shown in FIGS. 15A-15B, display elements 221 a and 221 b each includea concentric ring icon 222A-B around their perimeter. Within each ringicon 222A-B is a indicator arc 1002A, 1002B that provides a visualindication of the number of nodes in the hierarchical level below thenode being scrolled, or in other words the number of selectable itemsthat are related to the node being scrolled. If the indicator arc 1002Ais relatively large (as shown in FIG. 15A), this indicates that there isa small n umber of nodes (or items) through which to scroll. If,however, the indicator arc is relatively small (as shown in FIG. 15B),this indicates that the number of nodes (or items) is relatively large.More precisely, if there are n selected items, the angular displacementof the arc ${is}\quad\frac{1}{n} \times 360$degrees. The position of the arc on the ring indicates the position inthe list.

For example in FIG. 15A, the arc 1002A has a central angle of 90degrees, or ¼ of the circle, indicating that there are four selectableitems. Taking the top (12 o'clock) position of the circle as the zeropoint and measuring clockwise, the arc begins at 180 degrees andoccupies the third quadrant of the ring, indicating that the currentlyindicated node is the third of four indicatable items. As the userscrolls through the list of nodes (by turning outer knob 212 shown inFIG. 14), the indicator bar moves accordingly.

In FIG. 15B, the arc has a small included angle, indicating that thenumber n of indicatable items is large. If n is very large, the arc maybecome so small that it is difficult to see, so it may be desirable toset a maximum n, for example 32, above which the angle of the arc doesnot get any smaller. The position of the arc still indicates theposition of the currently selected node in the total number of nodes.For example, if there are 100 nodes and there is a minimum arc size of${\frac{1}{32} \times 360} = 11.25$degrees, if the arc ends at 270 degrees, the currently selected node isthe 75^(th) node out of the 100 nodes.

In another implementation the included angle of the arc could be$\frac{m}{n} \times 360$where m is the number of selectable items that are displayed on thedisplay, in the example of FIG. 14, three.

The implementation of the ring icon that is shown in FIGS. 15A and 15Bcan be applied to the navigation system described above. For example, inthe example shown in FIG. 10, there are 12 indicatable items (n=12). Theincluded angle of the arc could be ${\frac{1}{12} \times 360} = 30$degrees, and since the selected or indicated item (Delta) is the fourthitem, the arc could end at ${\frac{4}{12} \times 360} = 120$degrees.

FIGS. 16A-16D show examples of the present indicator display dependingon the number of presets the user has configured the system for. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 16A, the user has configured the system forsix presets and has assigned six different stations to each of buttons216A-F (e.g., “Magic” assigned to button 216A, 99.5 assigned to button216B, and so on). However, in FIGS. 16B-16D the user has configured thesystem to allow the 14 preset stations. On the display screen adjacent apreset indicators, there is displayed an identifier of the radio stationcorresponding to the preset indicator. If desired, specific presentindicators may be left unassigned, indicated by no identifier displayedadjacent it. The identifier may be a broadcast frequency (for 99.5,101.1, and 104.5), call letters (WXXX and WYYY), and/or station name(MAGIC), or some other identifier available from RDS/RDBS data streamsor other metadata. In FIG. 16B, the pointer adjacent preset indicator“6” indicates that there are more presets available. Selecting presetindicator “6” causes another set of presets to be displayed, for exampleas in FIG. 16C. In the arrangement of FIG. 16C, the leftward pointeradjacent the “1” preset indicator indicators that selecting presetindicator “1” would result in more presets being displayed, for examplethe arrangement of FIG. 16B. The rightward pointer adjacent the “6”preset indicator indicates that selecting preset indicator “6” wouldstill another set of presets being displayed, for example as in FIG.16D.

The audio sources associated with the preset indicators depend on theaudio signal portal. In the example above the audio signal portal is anFM receiver, so the audio signal sources represented by the presetindicators are FM radio stations. If the audio signal is a satelliteradio receiver, the audio signal sources could be satellite radiochannels. If the audio signal portal is a CD/DVD player, the audiosignal source could be a track, and so on. Presets can also be assignedfor other portals, such as phone, voice memo, and navigation.

The apparatuses and methods of FIGS. 13B, 14, 15A, 15B, and 16 have beendescribed as applied to a vehicle entertainment system, however they mayalso be applied to a home entertainment audio system with a display.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

1. A method for graphically representing content of a database in anautomobile entertainment system, the method comprising presenting aprimary display element on a display, wherein the primary displayelement represents a first node in a first hierarchical level of thedata base; and presenting a secondary display element on the display,wherein the secondary display element includes a graphical indicatorthat varies in size according to the number of nodes in a secondhierarchical level below the first hierarchical level of the database.2. The method of claim 1 wherein the primary display element comprisesan icon representative of the first node.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the secondary display element comprises a ring-shaped graphicalelement.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical indicatorcomprises a highlighted arc within the ring-shaped graphical element. 5.The method of claim 4 wherein the highlighted the arc is described be acentral angle equal to $\frac{m}{n} \times 360$ degrees, where n is thenumber of nodes in the second hierarchical level below the firsthierarchical level that are associated with the first node, and m is oneof 1 and the number of nodes in the hierarchical level below the firsthierarchical level that are represented on the display.
 6. A method inaccordance with claim 1, wherein m=1 and further comprising highlightingan arc of the ring, the arc described by a central angel equal to$\frac{1}{n_{\max}} \times 360$ degrees when n is equal to or greaterthan n_(max).
 7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein m is thenumber of nodes in the hierarchical level below the first hierarchicallevel that are represented on the display and further comprisinghighlighting an arc of the ring, the arc described by a central angleequal to $\frac{m}{n_{\max}} \times 360$ degrees when n is equal to orgreater than n_(max).
 8. A method in accordance with claim 1, furthercomprising causing the arc to be displaced from a starting point be anangular and representing an incrementing through the n nodes byincrementing the angular distance by $\frac{1}{n} \times 360$ degrees.9. In an automobile entertainment system, a method for graphicallyrepresenting elements of database comprising a plurality of nodes thatare arranged in a predetermined order, the method comprising: providinga control knob for navigating through nodes presented on a display ofthe vehicle entertainment system; presenting on the display a firstgraphical element representative of a selected node; and presenting onthe display a second and third graphical element associated with arespective second and third node that are each adjacent to the selectednode in the predetermined order, wherein the first, second and thirdgraphical elements are arranged in an approximately circular orsemi-circular fashion such that as the control knob is rotated selectionbetween the first, second, and third graphical elements is similarlyrotated.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein at least the first graphicalelement includes a graphical indicator that graphically shows the number of sub-selections under the selected node.
 11. The method of claim10 wherein the graphical indicator comprises a highlighted are within aring.
 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: causing a fourthgraphical element associated with a fourth node to appear on the screenas the user rotates the control knob.
 13. A method of claim 9, whereinthe first, second and third graphical elements move on the display inthe rotary direction of the control knob when rotated by the user.
 14. Amethod of claim 9, further comprising providing a second control knobfor selecting between sub-selections under the selected node.
 15. Themethod of claim 14 wherein the second control knob is concentric withthe first control knob.
 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the graphicalindicators moves as the second control knob is rotated.
 17. A method fordisplaying audio signal sources each audio signal source correspondingto one of a plurality of preset indicators, comprising: on a displayscreen, adjacent a first preset indicator, displaying an audio signalsource corresponding to the first preset indicator; displaying adjacenta second preset indicator a first graphical indicator that there areadditional audio signal sources each corresponding to one of theplurality of preset indicators; and upon selection of the second presetindicator, displaying a second audio signal source corresponding to thefirst preset indicator.
 18. A method in accordance with claim 17,wherein the number of audio signal sources is greater than the number ofpreset indicators.
 19. A method in accordance with claim 17, furthercomprising displaying adjacent a third preset indicator a secondgraphical indicator that there are additional audio signal sources eachcorresponding to one of the plurality of preset indicators; and uponselection of the third preset indicator displaying a third audio signalsource corresponding to the first preset indicator.
 20. An audio systemcomprising: a number N of input elements each associated with aparticular radio station such then when the input element is actuated bya user the audio system tunes to the particular radio station; and auser interface that permits the user to change the number of particularradio stations that may be stored from a first value to a second value,wherein at least the second value is greater than N.
 21. A method forgraphically representing data base elements on a display, the methodcomprising: causing an icon to appear on a display, the iconrepresenting a first node in a first hierarchical level of a data base;causing a ring to appear around the icon; and highlighting an arc of thering, the arc described by an included angle, wherein the magnitude ofthe included angle is related to the number of elements in ahierarchical level below the first hierarchical level associated withthe first node.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the position of thearc along the circumference of the ring is related to the position of ahighlighted element of the hierarchical level below the firsthierarchical level within its hierarchical level.
 23. The method ofclaim 21 wherein the magnitude of the included angle is inverselyproportional to the number of elements in the hierarchical level belowthe first hierarchical level associated with the first node.
 24. Themethod of claim 21, wherein the display is associated with a vehicleentertainment system.
 25. The method of claim 24 wherein the display isfurther associated with a vehicle navigation system